Report reveals how historic preservation benefits communities

Colorado Historical Foundation and History Colorado

www.historycolorado.org

Posted:
07/19/2013 08:20:48 AM MDT

Historic Preservation has contributed to Colorado's economic growth and well-being for decades. Starting in 2011, the Colorado Historical Foundation and History Colorado partnered together to regularly identify, study, and document the economic benefits of historic preservation in Colorado. This report is broken into three parts: Preservation and the Economy; Preservation and Communities; and Preservation and the Environment.

Historic Preservation Supports a Healthy Job Market

•About 32 new jobs are generated for every $1 million spent on the preservation of historic buildings.

•Since 1981, historic preservation projects in Colorado have created almost 36,000 jobs and generated nearly $2.5 billion in direct and indirect economic impacts.

•As of 2010, acquisition and development projects supported by the State Historical Fund have leveraged approximately $4 million in additional funds for every $1 million.

•In one year alone (2008), heritage tourism in Colorado generated $244 million in visitor spending.

Historic Preservation Builds Strong Communities

•Designation of local historic districts stabilizes and strengthens neighborhoods by protecting their character, typically enhancing property values as a result.

•Preservation programs foster community pride, learning, and creativity. In turn, historic neighborhoods become desirable places to live and work.

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•Preservation creates cultural vitality and becomes a definer for community identity. This helps communities attract visitors and engage volunteerism.

Historic Preservation Supports Environmental Sustainability

•Historic preservation is one vehicle communities can use to achieve many environmental sustainability goals, including:

-Conserving energy. For example, wood-frame windows are proven to be as efficient as newly installed double-paned vinyl windows when properly maintained.

-Reducing waste

-Improving air quality

•Historic preservation and "green building" are shown to be mutually supportive when incorporating renewable energy technologies into historic buildings, such as micro-hydro electric power sources, solar, and geothermal.

A report produced by the Preservation Green Lab of the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the potential environmental benefit of building reuse. The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse, concludes that, when comparing buildings of equivalent size and function, building reuse almost always offers environmental savings over demolition and new construction. Visit the National Trust to learn more about the key findings from the report.